Trim The Tee Craft Along Week 1:The Gingerbread Man Shirt

Today is the first installment of a new Sew Can Do Craft Along for the month of December: Trim The Tee.  Each week I'll have a new how-to for holiday decorating a plain t-shirt, using basic supplies & skills.

Today I'm sharing how to make a whimsical Gingerbread Man shirt, complete with "icing" details, "candy" buttons and a "frosting" scarf.  The wearer's face is what makes it come to life!  And by using felt there's no need to worry about hems or edges or using stabilizer.  It's fast & fun, so grab the Trim The Tee button off the sidebar and let's get started!

You'll Need:
- A blank tee
- 12in x 12in piece of tan felt for adults & kids (use smaller for baby-sized)
- Scraps of felt for scarf
- 1/3-1/2yd of rick rack
- 3 buttons
- Notions (hand sewing needle, thread, scissors, paper, pencil)

First draw or trace a gingerbread body (including neck) on paper.  I freehanded mine and then folded it in half so it would be nice and symmetrical.  Then I pinned it onto the folded felt & cut.

Open up and place on tee to see how the neck fits with the shirt's neckline.  Trim a bit more of a curve if necessary:

Pin the felt body to the front of the shirt.  It's best to use lots of pins so the felt won't shift when sewing onto the knit fabric.  Sew slowly to keep from accidentally sewing any folds of the shirt together.

Stitch the body onto the shirt 1/8 inch from the raw edge.  Cut the rick rack for the arms and waist.  Either fold the cut edges under or fuse them by running a lighter underneath to prevent fraying.  Pin and stitch along the center of the rick rack.

Cut 3 pieces from green felt using the neck of the body as a guide, but making them just slightly larger so they'll fully cover the body's neck when sewn on:

Overlap two pieces of the felt vertically and place the third on top horizontally and place over the neck area of the body like this:

Stitch all the scarf pieces in place, close to the raw edges as before, but leave about an inch of space at the bottom of the long ends and cut into strips to make the fringe:

 Hand stitch the buttons in place and someone's ready to be a little gingerbread man -

Stop by next Tuesday for the next Trim The Tee Craft Along with a snowflake theme!

I'm also sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES.

Click HERE to check them out!